I Do Not Have a Name. You May Call Me V.

[bcholmes]

V for Vendetta opens this weekend. You probably already know that. I'm very interested in seeing the story, although I'm a bit nervous, given Moore's description of it as "defanged".

So here's something I'm thinking about. Back in 1985/86, I bought V for Vendetta in monthly form. I had been a serious comics junkie since I was 6. By the mid-eighties, I was popping across the river to purchase up my monthly picks. I was on a first name basis with Bill, the guy who owned the comic shop; one day he took my friend and I to a comics convention in Ypsilanti -- the first comics convention I ever attended.

Bill would keep us abreast of all the new developments in comics: in the mid-eighties, creator-owned comics were becoming a big thing. Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles had turned into a huge, overnight success, and spawned host of look-alikes (somewhere in Sarnia, I have copies of Adolescent Radioactive Blackbelt Hamsters and Grown-up Thermonuclear Samurai Elephants). That partially lead to the hype around creator-owned comics. Companies like First Comics and Eclipse Comics were leaders in this space, and Marvel followed up with its own creator-owned imprint, Epic Comics.

Eclipse comics holds a special place in my heart, 'cause it exposed me to Miracleman, my first real exposure to Alan Moore's work (it would also expose me to Neil Gaiman's writing). Cat Yronwode, who founded the company, now runs a Hoodoo supply store in San Fran. Small world.

Because I was familiar with Moore's and Gaiman's works, as they'd launch new titles, I'd pick them up. Gaiman's work was still sufficiently new to me (and uneven) that I wasn't sure what I'd think of his new book, The Sandman, but I dutifully picked it up off of the shelves, and became a regular collector. Every once in a while, when I'm feeling insufferable, I think that there should be some special secret membership ring for those of us who were there at the beginning.

In 1985, I started university, and in 1987, I discovered Usenet (just before the great renaming). I hung out on rec.arts.comics, where we analyzed and dissected every issue of Watchmenas it would come out. It was the first large community of people I belonged to who shared my passion for comics. They believed, as I believed, that something important was happening in comics -- that the artform was changing and becoming influential. Other people didn't get it, didn't believe that. For too many people, to say, "I buy comics" was to say "I'm trying to avoid acting like an adult". the_siobhan said the other day that she found it interesting how all the things that used to get you beat up in school have suddenly become popular.

For me, Miracleman, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, The Dark Knight and The Sandman outline a time when it became okay for adults to enjoy comics. They're intertwingled with my own growth into adulthood, and they played a big role in shaping a lot of my interests: politics, Usenet, mythic stories, etc. These stories, for me, alway carry that history and meaning. And it's sometimes a little disorienting when I talk to people who discovered Moore and Gaiman later. It doesn't mean the same thing to them. And that's so hard for me to understand.

I'm not trying to sugggest that my experience of V for Vendetta was better, or more important, or anything. Certainly, posting on Usenet, I've seen just about every example of looking down one's nose at these Johnny-come-lately types.

Any minute now, I'm gonna sound like an old codger, and find myself saying, "By gum, I remember a time when...". I'm sure I'm not the only person to try to suggest that "no, really, it was even more important if you were there!" And I'm sure I've done my share of Not Getting It: "yeah, I picked up the DVD of Woodstock. It was good, but I don't see what everyone's talking about." (I'm reminded of Wil Wheaton's post about the Live Aid DVD: "Dad, he has a mullet!").

I guess all that I'm saying is that V for Vendetta is important to me because it's important to my history.

Comments

[cigfrain.livejournal.com]

a few days ago, i was riding home on the metro, earplugs in, reading my wellworn copy of "watchmen". as we neared my stop, some young dude in black trenchcoat and goatee motioned at me. i took out one earpiece, and he said "i can't help but notice that you're reading 'watchmen'. is this your first time?" i had in fact picked up this copy when it was new, quite a long time ago, and i raised it to indicate the wear, and responded, "no... this is my fourth reading."

i hadn't even picked it up because "V" put it on my mind. i was just in the mood, because it's good, where so much is not.

"oh," he said. "then i'll spare you all the little esoteric details."

"yes," i replied, and smiled.

he walked away, and my thoughts took a little a bit of the trajectory you just outlined here. and one of the reasons i'm probably going to avoid "V" until it hits dvd, is that i don't feel like lending box office cred to the running trend of turning what you and i know is actually good art of its own kind, into high-octane, low-value crap.

i'm glad that moore has taken the hard line, and now refuses to grant any control or license. not everything that was meaningful, needs to be squeezed of its juices and spread thin, just to get every ounce of market value out of it.

[abostick59.livejournal.com]

Whatever can be said about Alan Moore and his relationship to DC or Hollywood, there is something stirring and vital about walking into a cinema lobby and seeing a poster emblazoned with the message, People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people.

They can replace the Eye, the Ear, and the Mouth with the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion for all I care. Displaying that message with the trappings of legitimacy (rather than, say, stenciling it in spray-paint on a sidewalk) is important.

[chemlabgoddess.livejournal.com]

Did you ever see Geriatric Gangrene Jujitsu Gerbils? Saw an issue once in Iowa City, circa 1985.

V was my first comic.

[ardasiril.livejournal.com]

...well, the first one I bought myself, anyway. I had been reading a few as a kid, but they belonged either to my father or my brother and I never actually purchased them. (Girls were only supposed to read Archies, you know, and my mother had a collection of those.)

And we're going tonight, so I'll be sure and let you know what I think.

[professor-booty.livejournal.com]

Ah....comic memories...

I never really got into buying comics when I was a kid, with the exception of Mad Magazine. Like yourself, it wasn't until the 'renaissance' of the mid-80s that I got interested. Dark Knight Returns, Moonshadow, Watchmen, Elektra Assassin, Killing Joke....they pulled me in, and kept me in long after all my friends abandoned the medium. But by the mid-90s, things changed. I found myself saddled with four big boxes of bagged and boarded issues that I never looked at. I was dropping 4 bucks on issues that would take me less than 10 minutes to read, and which I would instantly forget. Eventually, Sandman was the only title I collected, and when the title ended, so did my regular trips to the comic shop (although I do pick up the occasional graphic novel, like Jimmy Corrigan).

Just as a lark (and because I now live nearby), I went to the San Diego Comicon last year. Watching some of the attendees reminded me just a little bit of how I used to feel when I was 17, waiting for an interminable math class to end - so I could take off and rifle through the new release rack, searching for pristine copies with zero flaking along the spine.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I remember radioactive blackbelt hamsters.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Every once in a while, when I'm feeling insufferable, I think that there should be some special secret membership ring for those of us who were there at the beginning.

A secret handshake!

[professor-booty.livejournal.com]

I had the '3D' Hamsters issue....oh, and there was the 'Clint - Hampster Triumphant' spin-off issue with the Dark Knight homage cover. I'd forgotten about the Samurai elephants though...at the time, that's when I knew things had really gotten out of hand.

[firecat]

We just watched American Splendor. I wonder what the people who bought the comics as they first came out think of the movie.